Hameed
A masculine Arabic name meaning "praiseworthy" or "commendable".
Name Census estimates that about 173 living Americans carry the first name Hameed. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Hameed today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hameed births was 2005 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hameed. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Hameed with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
173
~ 1 in 1,981,239 Americans
Peak year
2005
11 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,319
Tracked since 1976
Census
Hameed in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 625 people with the first name Hameed, which placed it at #17,576 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#17,576
National first-name rank
People counted
625
625 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
34.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hameed
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hameed is White at 34.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (31.4%) and Black (24.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Hameed described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Hameed at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White34.7% · 217
- Asian and Pacific Islander31.4% · 196
- Black or African American24.5% · 153
- Two or more races7.0% · 44
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 4
Popularity
Hameed: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hameed from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 48 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hameed by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Hameed during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hameeds live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hameed
The name Hameed has its origins in the Arabic language, tracing back to the 7th century CE. It is derived from the Arabic root word "hamd," which means "praise" or "gratitude." This root word is closely associated with the Islamic concept of praising and expressing gratitude to Allah (God).
Hameed is an Arabic masculine name that means "praiseworthy" or "the praised one." It is considered a virtuous name in the Islamic tradition, as it carries the connotation of being worthy of praise and gratitude for one's actions and character.
The name Hameed has a long history in the Islamic world, appearing in various historical texts and religious scriptures. In the Quran, the holy book of Islam, the root word "hamd" is mentioned numerous times, emphasizing the importance of praising and thanking Allah.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Hameed can be found in the works of renowned Muslim scholars and philosophers from the medieval period, such as Al-Hameed al-Ghazali (1058-1111 CE), a prominent Islamic theologian and philosopher.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Hameed. Among them are:
1. Hameed Ansari (1937-present), an Indian politician and former Vice President of India.
2. Hameed Gul (1936-2015), a Pakistani former military officer and intelligence chief.
3. Hameed Al-Hashemi (1890-1958), an Iraqi poet and writer known for his contributions to modern Arabic literature.
4. Hameed Al-Oudan (1926-2009), a Saudi Arabian novelist and short story writer, renowned for his works depicting life in the Arabian Peninsula.
5. Hameed Nizami (1915-1962), a Pakistani journalist and founder of the influential Urdu newspaper, Nawa-i-Waqt.
These individuals, spanning different eras and regions, have left their mark in various fields, including politics, military, literature, and journalism, while carrying the name Hameed.
People
Hameed + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hameed as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hameed: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hameed?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 173 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hameed going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,981,239 US residents.
Is Hameed a common name?
We classify Hameed as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 177 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hameed most popular?
The single biggest year for Hameed was 2005, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hameed is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hameed in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 625 people with the name Hameed, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,576 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Hameed in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Hameed?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hameed leans strongly male. 618 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 11 female bearers (1.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Hameed?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hameed is White at 34.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (31.4%) and Black (24.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Hameed most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Hameed in the 2020 Census, accounting for 34.7% (217 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Hameed in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hameed a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hameed in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Hameed still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hameed in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Hameed can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Hameed?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.